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Perry made right call on Sandy funding

Letter to the Editor

Updated:
01/15/2013 04:21:35 PM EST

In response to Joe Otterbein's article in the York Sunday News, Jan. 13, that he was ashamed of Rep. Scott Perry's vote, I come to the defense of Rep. Scott Perry. He should not be ashamed of his no vote, as this was a bill to help the victims of hurricane Sandy, not to fund pet projects all across the country.

For example, $2 million to repair the roofs of D.C. museums, $150 million for fisheries in Alaska, $125 million for Dept. of Agriculture's Emergency Protection Program, $20 million for nationwide Water Resources Priorities Study, $15 million for NASA facilities, $50 million for subsidies for tree planting on private property, $336 million for taxpayer supported AMTRAK without any detailed plan on how to spend it, $12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation, $5.3 billion for Army Corp of Engineers -- more than the annual budget -- with no statement of priorities in how to spend it. And the list goes on and on.

Have our congressmen no conscience, knowing there are people suffering from this tragedy, and then pack it with pork for their own pet projects? The shame goes on the congressional yes voters.

Mr. Otterbein states that we are not broke. "We are the richest and most powerful nation on earth." Are you kidding me? $16.5 trillion in debt and we're the richest on earth? We can't comprehend one trillion dollars. It takes 31,688 years to count to one trillion. I think we have already gone over the fiscal cliff and will soon join the ranks of Greece and Spain. Our government takes in about $6 billion a day in revenue and spends $11 billion a day. That's not going broke? LOWELL WELLERWEST MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP